Official Inquiry
by Rumour of an Alchemist
Summary: Alternate Universe. Tragedy. A visitor to Privet Drive in September of 1991 has Petunia reflecting on her relationship with more 'freakish' relatives.


Disclaimer: I am not J. K. Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter.

Note: The following piece is from the perspective of the Petunia Dursley of an alternate universe. It's set in September of 1991.

Warning! This piece is identified as tragedy.

* * *

Several days after Vernon had dropped the little freak off at King's Cross Station, it seemed to the Dursley household as if a cloud which had been casting its shadow over number four Privet Drive, in the heat of a scorching summer sun, abruptly dissipated, changing the atmosphere noticeably.

Several days after _that_, with Dudley away at Smeltings, and Vernon out at work for the day, a lord came calling, mid-morning.

He was dressed in an impeccable Savile Row suit, and he carried himself in such a manner that Petunia, when she went to answer the door, had no doubt at once that the blond-haired man must be Someone Very Important, and she instinctively dropped a curtsey.

He surveyed her with cold grey eyes and a slightly distant expression on his face.

"I am Lord Malfoy." he announced. "I am here on behalf of the government to ascertain certain facts regarding the late Lily Potter, née Evans, and her son." His lip curled into a slight expression of disdain. "I gather that Lily's sister, Petunia Dursley, née Evans, is resident at this address and, according to our records, is the most recently known guardian for said son of Lily Potter."

"Your lordship." Petunia said in what she hoped was a suitably deferential tone. "I am Petunia Dursley, and my husband and I had indeed taken our nephew in, but," she bit off saying 'the freak' and substituted something else instead, "the brat is currently away at an institution for the incurably criminal."

Something in what she had said seemed to amuse the visitor in a bitterly ironic way, and his lips twitched for just a moment.

"Indeed he is, Mrs. Dursley. However, I still wish to speak to you at length. I require a good deal of information about your late sister and her son. Understand, Mrs. Dursley, that I have _full authorisation_ from _all_ relevant authorities to inquire into matters _of any kind_. I am not hindered in anything by any rules regarding secrecy observed by either the regular government or any more," he hesitated, as if selecting his next words carefully, his eyes boring into hers, "_freakish_ one. I have proper accreditations with which I can reassure you, if you wish to view them."

"You'd best come inside then." Petunia decided. "We couldn't be seen to be discussing such matters on the doorstep."

* * *

Although he was somewhat frosty and aloof in his demeanour, Lord Malfoy was very gracious in coming inside and accepting tea and homemade scones. Petunia examined the two documents Lord Malfoy produced affirming he had the legal authority to 'question witnesses for information' pertaining to 'one Harry James Potter' and 'his close relatives and recent guardians'. Both of these papers looked highly official and one bore the stamps of the office of the Prime Minister and the other of 'The Minister for Magic'. So far as Petunia could judge such things, they seemed to be genuine, and to indicate that Lord Malfoy had proper authority to question her. And so she talked at length, about what it was like being a child with a freak of a younger sister (who was the favourite of their parents) with freaky powers, always showing off and hanging around with that Snape boy, and of the eventual relief of finally seeing the two of them go off to Hogwarts.

She talked of the things her sister used to do over the holidays, and of how said sister replaced that freaky Snape boy with even worse freaks of friends who called themselves 'the murderers' (or something such) and who made the Snape boy seem a paragon of virtue by comparison. She talked of the final horror of her sister actually _marrying_ one of the worse members of that foursome, after which Petunia had refused to have anything further to do with her sister. What that _Potter_ had considered amusing was in fact horrific torture, as far as Petunia was concerned, and she was surprised that 'the other lot' hadn't had rules or laws about it to prevent freaks like him from abusing ordinary, decent, folk like Petunia with his freaky powers. But then again, apparently he had been someone important from a very rich family in his society, who Knew All The Right People, and he had probably been able to ignore whatever laws he wanted.

Lord Malfoy had produced a silver fountain pen and notebook, and took frequent notes regarding what Petunia was telling him.

And Petunia recounted how, just when she and Vernon had thought that they were well and truly shot of all freakishness, their freak of a nephew had been dumped on their doorstep overnight back in November 1981, along with a vaguely threatening letter from one of the chief freaks which had hinted implicitly at all kinds of dire consequences if Petunia and Vernon didn't take him under their roof and permit him to call their home 'his own'.

Lord Malfoy expressed an interest in viewing the letter, if Mrs. Dursley stilled possessed it?

Petunia said that she'd have a look for it, but in the meantime now seemed to be a good point to break for lunch, if his lordship would like a sandwich and a little salad?

Lord Malfoy graciously accepted. Everything about the man was most gracious.

* * *

During lunch Petunia excused herself for ten minutes and rummaged around upstairs, eventually locating the letter from that Dumbledore freak that had been left for her along with her nephew. She took it downstairs and showed it to Lord Malfoy, who read it through – a frown crossing his brow for the first time. Then he read it through a couple more times, and made some notes in his notebook. At last he looked up at her.

"This is _exceptionally_ important evidence, Mrs. Dursley. You should ensure that you keep it somewhere safe, in case there are… questions… at some point in the future."

Petunia felt slightly uneasy for the first time at that mention of the word 'evidence'. It suggested that something had gone very wrong somewhere, and that someone was going to possibly be called to account for it.

"I don't see what else we were supposed to do, getting a letter like that." she said, awkwardly.

"Quite, quite." Lord Malfoy said soothingly. "It put you in a very awkward situation. You could indeed be said to have been acting under duress in anything following on from a letter like that."

He seemed to lose some of his icy hauteur having seen the letter, and to appear not quite so distant.

After lunch, they went on, with Petunia now telling Lord Malfoy about her freak of a nephew's time in their house up to date. She bent the truth _slightly_ when it came to his accommodation, making out that he had been put in the cupboard under the stairs as punishment for wrongdoing and that he had required frequent such punishment. Lord Malfoy expressed sympathy, saying it must be difficult to discipline an unruly child who was, nonetheless, one's sister's son, and who might be able to do untoward things if more conventional chastisement was attempted. He added that it must be especially difficult when one was partially acting under threat of power from another personage in even having such a child around the house.

Petunia felt relieved that Lord Malfoy so clearly understood.

He was _highly_ interested by the accounts she gave him pertaining to the Hogwarts letters, of the bombardment by multiple letters which chased them wherever they went, and finally of the assault and battery by that huge man with the pink umbrella who'd practically abducted Harry.

He was also interested to hear what the huge man had done to Dudley, giving him a pig's tail and then leaving him like that.

Finally, having virtually filled his notebook, he snapped it shut, and put notebook and fountain pen away in some inside pocket of his suit.

"I consider it only appropriate, Mrs. Dursley, given the circumstances, that you understand I have a personal stake in my inquiries today. Your ungovernable miscreant of a nephew" anger kindled for a moment in his eyes, before being swiftly damped down, "was recently responsible for the death of my own son, by deliberately pushing him to his death from a great height. Given what you have been able to tell me of his background and forebears, your nephew's actions seem to have been tragically inevitable. He is, whether you realised it or not, in actuality currently residing in an 'institution for the incurably criminal'," an icy smile briefly crossed Lord Malfoy's lips, which made Petunia shiver for a moment, "and he is unlikely to darken your doors again for many years, if at all. Thank-you for your time and hospitality, Mrs. Dursley. I trust that nobody will trouble you further about this incident, but if they should," he produced a card, "here are the details of an agent of mine in London whom you should be able to contact, should you require my assistance. If anyone attempts to draw a wand on you over this, please feel free to make it clear that I have spoken to you at length and that any attempts by them to interfere with you will simply worsen the seriousness of their own situation, since I shall occasionally check by to ensure that you have not been 'tampered with'. And with that, good lady, I shall bid you adieu."

Petunia turned the card over and over in her hands for some time after Lord Malfoy left. Whilst he had had his very many flaws, she hadn't realised that her freak of a nephew was actually capable of killing someone at the tender age of only eleven, but apparently he was. He'd probably gotten it from his father, she concluded. One had never quite known what that man and his cronies were capable of doing. They'd probably have killed someone quite happily as part of a joke, maybe telling themselves afterwards that they'd not actually set out _intending_ such to happen, but nonetheless thoroughly unrepentant if such a thing _did_ occur.

Yes, the boy's father had _definitely_ been a wrong 'un and her nephew had probably killed Lord Malfoy's son as part of a prank or maybe showing off to impress some bad sorts that he'd taken up with at the freaky Hogwarts place…

It wasn't anything to do with her – it was all the fault of his bad blood and that Dumbledore freak, Petunia reassured herself. And that Lord Malfoy – poor man, losing his son, because of her 'ungovernable miscreant' of a nephew – understood, she was _sure_. He'd make sure any blame went where it was due…

* * *

Author Notes:

I'm unclear if Lucius Malfoy of canon is actually a titled lord in either wizarding or muggle Britain, but he lives in a large manor house, and it seems to me that it would be in-characyer for him to present himself as a member of the aristocracy when dealing with muggles in an official capacity.

Lucius is civil to Petunia Dursley in this encounter (albeit through gritted teeth at times) since he's trying to understand as much as possible regarding the personal circumstances of the eleven year old he regards as his own son's murderer, and her willing co-operation makes things much easier. He intends to equip himself with as much information as possible, before apportioning blame and serving up a healthy dose of retribution to those he considers responsible. He intends a very calm, carefully calculated, Slytherin vengeance. At the point Petunia brings out the letter from Dumbledore, he concludes that any part the Dursleys played was insignificant, since they were acting under directions from a powerful wizard. He reasons that the Dursleys wouldn't do anything Dumbledore didn't want them to do, as he'd never let any muggle minions of his own have any independence of action or leave them unsupervised for almost a decade - and certainly not with someone as important as Harry James Potter involved.

The Petunia of this universe wants to convince herself (and her listener) that the way that she's brought up Harry is entirely reasonable, and that she couldn't have done anything more to prevent Harry from turning out the way that he has.

For the record, the back-story for this encounter is that the Slytherin/Gryffindor flying lesson of 1991 - in particular the Harry/Draco hijinks which developed around Neville's remembrall - played out differently. In this universe Harry succeeded in his stated objective of knocking Draco from his broom, resulting in a fall to the ground for Draco which was fatal. (It was an unsupervised class with no adults on the scene who might somehow have been able to save Draco with a quick spell.)


End file.
